On February 6, 2020, the Prime Minister held the sixth meeting of the Novel Coronavirus Response Headquarters at the Prime Minister’s Office.

At the meeting, a discussion was held on the response to the novel coronavirus.

Based on the discussion, the Prime Minister said,

“Regarding the cruise ship Diamond Princess, which is stationed in Yokohama Port, since yesterday, onboard quarantine has been implemented in accordance with the Quarantine Act. As of yesterday, ten people tested positive for the virus; today an additional ten people tested positive. All of them have been escorted to medical institutions in Kanagawa Prefecture, and have been hospitalized in accordance with the Act on the Prevention of Infectious Diseases and Medical Care for Patients with Infectious Diseases.

From the viewpoint of thoroughly implementing border controls and preventing an outbreak in Japan, I ask you to continue to carry out screening for the virus accordingly, while paying full attention to maintaining the health of the ship crew and passengers.

Furthermore, the cruise ship Westerdam from Hong Kong, one of the passengers of which is alleged to be infected by the virus, is scheduled to make a port call in Japan soon. In light of such a situation, while the Cabinet has approved to deny entry to Japan by foreign nationals who meet certain criteria in accordance with the Immigration Control and Refugee Act, we also intend to deny the entry of foreign nationals onboard the Westerdam, unless there are special circumstances, in accordance with said act. For this reason, we will complete the necessary procedures accordingly and make this effective as of midnight, February 7.

Going forward, we will swiftly enact equivalent measures if we become aware of any similar situations.

The Government will monitor the epidemiological status of the virus, by strengthening our surveillance in Japan to prevent the spread of the virus, and continue to ensure border controls. I ask each and every one of you to exert every effort to prevent further infections, taking advance actions without being constrained by past practices, under the policy of allowing no gaps to arise in our response.”